Benjamin Bathurst FRS (1692– 5 November 1767) of Lydney, Gloucestershire, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons for 54 years from 1713 to 1767. Bathurst was a younger son of Sir Benjamin Bathurst, MP and his wife Frances Apsley, daughter of Sir Allen Apsley. His father was heavily involved in the slave trade through the

Royal African Company The Royal African Company (RAC) was an English mercantile (trade, trading) company set up in 1660 by the royal House of Stuart, Stuart family and City of London merchants to trade along the West Africa, west coast of Africa. It was led by the J ...

and the East India Company. Bathurst was himself a supporter of the slave trade, in his position as MP. He was educated at Eton College in 1699 and matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford 30 June 1708, aged 16. He inherited the estates at Lydney, Gloucestershire and Mixbury, Oxfordshire on the death of his father in 1704. Bathurst was returned as Member of Parliament (MP) for Cirencester on the family interest at the

1713 British general election The 1713 British general election produced further gains for the governing Tory party. Since 1710 Robert Harley had led a government appointed after the downfall of the Whig Junto, attempting to pursue a moderate and non-controversial policy, b ...

He was returned again in

1715 Events For dates within Great Britain and the British Empire, as well as in the Russian Empire, the "old style" Julian calendar was used in 1715, and can be converted to the "new style" Gregorian calendar (adopted in the British Empire i ...

and

1722 Events January–March * January 27 – Daniel Defoe's novel ''Moll Flanders'' is published anonymously in London. * February 10 – The Battle of Cape Lopez begins off of the coast of West Africa (and present-day Gabon), as ...

. At the

1727 British general election The 1727 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 7th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election was trigg ...

, he transferred to Gloucester where he was caught up in a double return. He was declared elected as MP on 16 February 1728. He was returned again in

1734 Events January– March * January 8 – Salzburgers, Lutherans who were expelled by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Salzburg, Austria, in October 1731, set sail for the British Colony of Province of Georgia, Georgia in North America ...

1741 Events January–March * January 13 – Lanesborough, Massachusetts is created as a township. * February 13 – Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, popularizes the term "the balance of power" in a spe ...

and

1747 Events January–March * January 31 – The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital. * February 11 – King George's War: A combined French and Indian force, commanded by Captain Nicolas Antoine II Coul ...

. At the

1754 general election Events January–March * January 28 – Horace Walpole, in a letter to Horace Mann, coins the word ''serendipity''. * February 22 – Expecting an attack by Portuguese-speaking militias in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Pla ...

he was returned as MP for Monmouth Boroughs on the interest of the Duke of Beaufort, and was returned again in

1761 Events January–March * January 14 – Third Battle of Panipat: Ahmad Shah Durrani and his coalition decisively defeat the Maratha Confederacy, and restore the Mughal Empire to Shah Alam II. * January 16 – Siege of Pondi ...

. He was appointed

Outranger of Windsor Forest The Out-Ranger of Windsor Forest was an official post associated with the royal forest of Windsor. The nominal duties of the out-ranger were to preserve any deer which escaped the bounds of Windsor Forest. (Under forest law, the Sovereign owned ...

in 1763 which he held for the rest of his life. There is no record of his ever having spoken in Parliament in all the years he was a member Bathurst married Finetta Poole, the daughter of Henry Poole of Kemble, Gloucestershire in 1714, and with her had 22 children. She died on 27 February 1738 and he married as his second wife, on 22 October 1741, Catherine Whitfield, widow of Dr. William Whitfield and daughter of the Rev. Lawrence Brodrick, chaplain to the House of Commons. With her he had a further 14 children. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society on 9 December 1731. Bathurst died on 5 November 1767. He was the brother of Allen Bathurst, 1st Baron Bathurst and Peter Bathurst.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bathurst, Benjamin 1692 births 1767 deaths People from Lydney People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Welsh constituencies British MPs 1713–1715 British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1722–1727 British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1734–1741 British MPs 1741–1747 British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768

Benjamin Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...